Bear comes down from tree after 11 hours, climbs second tree

Authorities in Washington state said a large black bear that spent more than 11 hours in a tree near a school finally came down -- and immediately climbed another tree.

ADVERTISEMENT

Department of Fish and Wildlife officials said the bear was spotted in a tree about a block away from Highlands Elementary School in Renton about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, kicking off an hours-long standoff.

Randy Matheson, spokesperson for Renton School District, said classes at the school continued as usual Wednesday, but recess periods were held indoors for the safety of students.

Wildlife officers said they did not want to use tranquilizer darts because the bear was too high up in the tree.

The officers attempted to use bean bag rounds, specially trained dogs and loud noises to scare the bear out of the tree in the evening, but the attempts just caused the bear to climb higher up in the tree.

The bear climbed down on its own about 10:45 p.m., but the bruin immediately climbed another nearby tree before wildlife officers could close in on it.

The large animal eventually climbed down from the second tree about 3:30 a.m. Thursday and left the area on its own.